The present invention related to automated liquid dispensers, and in particular dispensers that are configured to adapt to liquid containers of different sizes. For example, FIGS. 1A and 1B show a generic liquid container, which in one case may be a bottle 1 with a cap 2 in which the throat of the bottle is threaded 3 and the cap is configured with mating threads 4 to be secured to the top of the container. Embodiments of the present invention may be used with liquid containers such as that shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.